Pot smokers in Oregon were apparently more interested in having a green Christmas this year than the traditional white one.
At least that’s what recent stats for recreational pot sales seem to indicate.
“I think we were 40 percent over normal sales the day before and the day after,” Jim Murphy, from TJ’s Organic Provisions, told reporters from local news source KVAL in Eugene, Oregon.
“I don’t know that it was people buying Christmas presents, or people trying to deal with their in-laws. I’m not sure,” he said.
Professionals involved with the cannabis industry in Oregon have reported that December’s dramatic increase in recreational pot sales is likely the outcome of several important factors.
“Stress, family, recreation; it’s time off. It’s time to do what you want to do,” Murphy said.
Along with these holiday-related factors, some have pointed to the upcoming changes in Oregon’s ganja taxes as a likely reason for the sudden rush in pot purchases.
According to news sources, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission will begin taxing recreational marijuana in January.
Once the taxes go into effect, recreational products sold in a medical dispensary will receive a 25 percent tax, while recreational products sold at a recreational dispensary will be taxed at a rate somewhere between 17 and 20 percent.
While the looming taxes may have motivated some pot consumers to load up before the end of the year, cannabis industry professionals like Murphy don’t expect the taxes to alter consumers’ habits in any significant way.
“Well, I think it’s unfortunate that it’s so high and I think that people are really going to start to feel it,” he told reporters.
“Will it make them stop? It wouldn’t make me stop.”
A more pot-positive change coming to the state in 2016 is the introduction of recreational edibles. This change could potentially offset whatever negative impacts the increased taxes bring about.
“It’s going to be a huge impact on the recreational sales,” Murphy said.
“It turns out your soccer moms don’t want to combust or smoke marijuana, they want to eat the brownie or the cookie that they heard about and not have to damage their lungs or anything.”
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